GracesvsgrazeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Graces is a name, graze is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Graces” is a name and “graze” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,076
“Graces” frequency rank
#28,225
“graze” frequency rank
53301
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Graces graze
Definition Three sister goddesses in Greek mythology (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia), in whom beauty was deified. The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing.

Where the eye mixes Graces and graze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Graces
5 ch
graze

Why the eye confuses Graces with graze

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Graces is /ˈɡɹeɪsɪz/ while graze is /ɡɹeɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Graces is recorded at frequency rank #25,076, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈɡɹeɪsɪz/. graze is at rank #28,225, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 53301, this pair ranks #150,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Graces vs graze

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "Graces": cs. Private to "graze": z.

"Graces" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "graze" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gracesgarces · ggraces · gracces · gracess · gracse · graecs · grcaes · grraces
  • grazegarze · ggraze · graez · grazze · grraze · grzae · rgaze

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Graces" for "graze" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Graces" is a name and "graze" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "Graces" or "graze" show up more?
"Graces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,076 in our English list, against #28,225 for "graze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Graces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "graze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #150,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Graces" and "graze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glazer vs graze". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #150,080 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list